Category: Ministry

Freedom in a 180 Gallon Tank

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http://www.aquaticsvcs.com/ tanks.html

Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another.

Do you ever feel trapped? Sometimes, I look at our saltwater tank in our family room and I think of the vast ocean where these fish were made to be, deserve to be and there is part of me that  feels bad that the fish are trapped in 180 gallons of water. It seems like a lot of water and they seem happy to be fed everyday but I wonder what they would do in the ocean? Would they swim around in 180 gallons of sea or would they venture out past the boundaries and check things out? Just like those fish we find ourselves trapped in a limited space.

Only unlike those fish we can choose to swim beyond what we’ve always known and test the waters of the vast ocean of opportunity set before us. Freedom of a multitude of choices is the benefit of being human. Maybe we just want to explore the possibilities that are set out before us, only what keeps us from moving out into the great unknown? Fear. Fear and freedom are two opposing words.Fear keeps us from exploring what the Lord has for us.

My mom is a play it safe kinda gal. She’s been a great mom, in her, I know there is security and love and warmth and a safe place to fall if I need to. I know she isn’t going skydiving anytime soon and her big adventures consists of an occasional cruise or an occasional nickel or quarter slot machine in Vegas. She sees danger around the corner and as her daughter, she is always saying to me things like, “You are crazy! You need to remember you have kids!” Mostly it’s when I say things like, I went snorkeling in the Carribbean, (she sees sharks), or parasailing, (she sees a me crashing into the ocean), or a preaching trip to Africa, (she sees me being eaten by a lion) and when I told her that there were signs saying “Beware of Baboons” in Africa, she said, “Well, you BETTER be careful!”, in her mom voice which means business! When my daughter Casey went off to Midwest for college, my mom said, “Are you nuts? That’s too far!” And yet, she is proud of her girls on some levels. There is a streak of adventure in her as she sees an airplane up in the sky and says, “I’d sure like to be on that plane going wherever it’s going.” In those moments her sarcastic daughter (me) wants to say, “What if it’s going to AFRICA?!”

I think she found happiness in her life. She has been bold in her career as moved up the corporate ladder. She loved her career in banking and as promotions and new offers came in she never hesitated to take them. She showed me that my potential was only limited by my fear to go for it!

So where are you today? Are you swimming around in that 180 gallon tank of your life looking past the glass wishing, thinking about, but never taking the chance to swim past? Ask yourself, what the worst that could happen could be? You may fail and have to go back to the tank, but you might make it, and swim past things you never even knew existed. Are you living your life to its full potential or are you allowing fear to trap you? Resolve to live your life without regrets of things you should have done.

Take a chance to travel, take a chance to change careers, if your heart really wants to, take a chance in your life! You may find the freedom you were called to. Listen to that still small voice in your heart that leads the way to big adventures. Listen to it carefully as it guides you. No one ever promised you a safe life but you were promised a life worth living to its fullest!

Wine Christians

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Mark 2: 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

The metaphor here is the new wine which is the Holy Spirit, the moving of the spirit, the fire and power of Pentecost, the new church. Old Wineskin is religion, tradition, man-made, dry. Old wineskins once they aged became cracked and dry. New wine needs to be in new wine skins that are pliable and stretch and will move with the Holy Ghost.

To be a wine Christian you have to stop and resist the feeling of being pushed and pressured. We feel like we have to go here and there and we get caught up in the urgent and we miss the blessing of the important things God has set before us. A lot of things in our lives are like little fires, they seem urgent but will extinguish themselves if you leave them alone. To be a wine Christian ask yourself these questions;

1. Do you have a plan for you life? Do you have a dream that you want to see come through before the end of your life?
2. Do you have a goal and a plan or is your dream just a dream? Do you know how it will come to pass? What is your strategy?

Isaiah 32:8 But the noble man devises noble plans; And by noble plans he stands.

3. Who in your life is assisting you in your plan? Who speaks into your life? Who mentors you? Who is helping you? It is very dangerous to listen to no one. You hear people say, “I’m not going to church. I only need Jesus. I’m a good Christian.” Jesus is not even in this mix. He’s not hanging around this person because this person is rebellious and prideful and doesn’t think they need anyone. Then you have the flip side, the person who listens to everyone. Oh that sounds good let’s do that, that is a great idea let’s do that. Be careful what you eat in the form of books that you are reading and who you are listening to. Our Pastor warns us often, “Don’t eat from the garbage. Measure everything by what the word of God says.

4. How involved is God in the plan? Don’t forget to bring God into your meetings. And don’t move forward ignoring all the warnings. Learn to hear his voice.

That’s how you tell the difference between whether you are growing in your walk with Christ or standing still. Milk Christians are waiting to be fed the next word. Wine Christians can cook up a great meal and even feed others!

Milk Christians

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blogs.smarter.com/ babieskids2009/06/ 08/ bpa-and-baby-bottles

My Pastor preached on this and I want to share it.

1 Corinthians 3: 1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Milk Christians are considered babes in Christ. That’s what we’d like to think.

Unfortunately though we’ve seen some milk Christians with full facial hair or breast of their own!

How can you tell if you are a milk Christian?

Milk Christians go to this church one week, this church the next week and midweek they are at a third.

They are always looking for something new; they are easily bored with everything. Their attention span is like that of a toddler, 3-5 minutes tops.

They believe everything and people easily deceive them.

Milk Christians run out of inspiration quickly.

They start lots of new things but never see it through to completion. I’ve had four jobs in 28 years, milk Christians brag about how many jobs they’ve had like it’s a badge.

Milk Christians get negative quickly.

They have very shallow relationships.

Milk Christians are not into long-term relationships.

Covenants to them are boring. That’s why you can have a long term Christian who still cheats on his wife.

They are listening to everyone and no one so they hear confirmations from sources outside of their covering.

There is no balance.

You see, milk has a time and a purpose but nursing when you are supposed to be weaned is retarded development.

Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Are you a milk Christian? If so, and you’ve been a Christian longer than 5 years it’s time to grow up!

Which Is Worse?

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vbeta.pl/2009/05/22/ kolejna-k...microsoft

There is a concept that we have created in our mind that sins have levels or degrees. Murder, we think, is an ultimate sin which most of us would not commit but lying well, that is a small sin and because everyone does it, it is more likely excusable.

So we judge each other based on what we consider is a more of a sin than the one that we’ve committed. We have categorized sin by degree. Only the problem with this is that sin is sin. There isn’t one that is more offensive than the other. It’s doing something that we know is wrong and just because everyone is doing it doesn’t make it right. We often can justify our sin until that sin is committed on us, then all of a sudden it becomes wrong. In the case of lying, we can say we lied to save feelings but when we are lied to why are we outraged?

Sin is simply defined as rebellion or lawlessness, missing the mark. It means we know something is not right and we do it anyway. The argument then becomes who sets up right and wrong? What if I don’t think it’s wrong? Remember that God set it up and whether you believe in God or not, you can’t deny that it’s basic humanity to live above the law that God set forth. You may not believe that sleeping with a married man is wrong because after all, he’s miserable in his marriage, but when he becomes your husband you’ll have a different perspective when you find out about his new girlfriend. Wouldn’t staying away from him be just the basic common courtesy you would give a fellow human being? You may not think telling a private matter of one girlfriend to another is wrong, until she tells your dirty little secret and then it’s heinous.

Does God forgive everybody? Everyone who asks for forgiveness with a repented heart is forgiven always. Even the most horrible of people and even the things we think we could never forgive a person for God is able to do so. On the surface of things it doesn’t seem fair does it? A person can live their life so horribly and then, finds God, and asks for his forgiveness and gets it. It would seem like God would say no, sorry that is too harsh of a thing to be forgiven for. Only what makes murder with a gun worse than murder with your words? Don’t they both have the same effect? Vicious actions are vicious actions regardless of the tools used. So let’s stop judging motive, see sin for sin and quit excusing our own.

More In The Kitchen!

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http://www.sheknows.com/ articles/ 809733.htm

Bishop Richard Heard told this story and I loved it and thought I’d share it with you.

A Pastor was hosting an Evangelist at his church. Times were tough so he decided to have the Evangelist stay in his home to save money. Each day the Pastor and the Evangelist would come home for dinner the Pastor would go into the kitchen to check on how dinner was coming along. The Pastor would then call the family to dinner and he’d either announce, “FHB” or “MIK” while praying.

The Evangelist couldn’t figure out what FHB or MIK stood for but because he was a guest in their home, he felt funny about asking. Yet night after night the Pastor would announce, “FHB” or “MIK”. The Evangelist was desperately curious.

Finally on the last day of the revival, the Pastor and the Evangelist were talking. The Pastor was thanking the Evangelist for all of his hard work for the kingdom and blessing him as he spent the last night with him. The Evangelist thanked the Pastor for his hospitality. The Pastor said, “I sense there is something you want to ask me.” The Evangelist sighed and said, “Yes! I’ve been wanting to ask you what does FHB and MIK mean?”

The Pastor chuckled and told the Evangelist that times had been tough for his family. So each night he’d check on dinner and his wife would let him know if there was very little food or an abundance of food for the evening meal. He had taught his children that they were to show preference to their guest so each night as he called them to dinner he would say, “FHB” meaning Family Hold Back or “MIK” meaning More In The Kitchen.

You know your Father in Heaven has never said to you, “FHB”. With God, he has always said to you, “MIK”. So what is holding you back from reaching your goals? If your goals are God breathed, there is always MIK.

Good Enough Sometimes Isn’t

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Genesis 11:24. When Nahor was twenty-nine years old, he had Terah.
25. After Nahor had Terah, he lived 119 more years and had other sons and daughters.
26. When Terah was seventy years old, he had Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The Family Tree of Terah
27. This is the story of Terah. Terah had Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
28. Haran died before his father, Terah, in the country of his family, Ur of the Chaldees.
29. Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram’s wife was Sarai; Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.
30. Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and Sarai his daughter-in-law (his son Abram’s wife) and set out with them from Ur of the Chaldees for the land of Canaan. But when they got as far as Haran, they settled down there.
32. Terah lived 205 years. He died in Haran.

As I Wait

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I think of Sarah, who wanted a baby. She didn’t care that God said he would make her husband a great nation. She simply wanted one baby to kiss and to hold and to call her own. My prayer is not for a baby but it’s a hope nevertheless.

As I Wait

I think of Sarah who for a moment lost her faith in God and sent her handmaiden in to sleep with her husband. The consequence of helping God out was that Ishmael was born and the fight was on. I pray I stay in submission to the plan.

As I Wait

I see Sarah receive her promise in her old age and I wonder, God will that be me? Will my promise come at the end of my life?

As I Wait

I read God’s word and I see where he says, Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. How long is the wait Lord?

As I Wait

I understand that my timing is not God’s timing and that he deals in issues of eternity and I deal in issues of today. They look quite different in perspective don’t they?

As I Wait

Sometimes I have to confess that I am like the father who came to Jesus to ask for help with the healing of his son. Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Help my unbelief Lord.

As I Wait

I find that I have more strength than I thought I have.

As I Wait

I find that I believe more than ever that I have all the power I need.

As I Wait

I grow and I learn and I learn and I grow…

As I Wait

The prayer changes and takes on a different shape and so does my life.

As I Wait

I realize the answer begins to come into focus.

As I Wait

I praise You Lord for I am like Elijah and I see the cloud in the distance. It is only the size of man’s palm but I can close my eyes, I can take a deep breath and I can almost smell the rain coming.

Haiti Hit Again

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Another earthquake has hit Haiti. People are scared, tired and hungry, hurt and in dire need. Moms Against Hunger has moved into action.

You can make a difference in bringing aid  to Haiti!

Project Haiti

Mom’s Against Hunger supplies are being shipped to the crisis happening in Haiti now. Due to conditions beyond anyone’s control in the earthquake, deep human suffering, disease, and death are happening daily. Through our provisions we can ease the pain of Haitian men, women, boys, and girls.

Please join us in this most worthy cause of compassionate care for the earthquake victims of Haiti.

By clicking on the Donate button on the top of this page you can get aid to Haiti. Moms Against Hunger has already moved into action to help. To read more about Moms Against Hunger click here.

Faith

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I’ve been wondering how come it’s so easy to have faith in people but not in God? It’s strange isn’t it? The bible says:

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

So what does that mean? What is faith exactly? Faith is going for a job interview, hoping that you will ace the interview and then getting the job. The boss says, “You are going to start tomorrow, be here at 9 and the pay will be $1500 a week.” The next day you came to work at 8:45 (impression and preparation are everything). You work that day and 9 more days before a check appears in your hand for 1.5k minus taxes. That’s faith. Now faith is the substance (work) of things hoped for (the job), the evidence (a paycheck!) of things not seen(10 days later). You worked in advance, hoping that at the end what they boss told you they were going to pay you, they would.

Most people don’t have great faith. We’ve been disappointed enough to know that not everyone/everything comes through. God does come though. Here is a story from the bible

Matthew17:14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Okay, so here’s the story, the disciples didn’t have the faith even collectively to heal a boy who was an epileptic. Why? Jesus said it was because of their unbelief. He said that if we had faith as a mustard seed we could have things move in our lives. The mustard seed is the smallest seed, it’s tiny, smaller than a peppercorn. So we only need a tiny bit of it to move the mountains in our lives. We only have to believe a little bit.

The problem I am seeing is that we have faith and patience to wait for the paycheck from our job but if God doesn’t snap to it, we give up! Don’t give up on that thing you are believing for. Don’t give up on that job you want or that promotion, don’t give up on that marriage and don’t give up on that baby.

Sometimes the answer is no. The Apostle Paul asked for God to heal him from an affliction. The bible doesn’t say what the affliction was and it doesn’t even matter. God said no. Almighty God answered Mighty Apostle Paul, “My grace is sufficient.” In other words, “I am taking care of you and you’re fine just as you are. These times are disappointing but not fatal.

Sometimes the answer is yes but it takes a long time in coming. We get desperate for an answer but God is coming with one. Sarah and Abraham had to wait years and years to have a baby but God had said yes and so they waited. The wait paid off in their old age when their son Isaac was born. Can you imagine the joy?

Don’t lose hope. Don’t get impatient. God is moving in your life and he will answer you. Have a little faith!